The difficulty of Sacrificial Summoning was far higher than that of Normal Summoning.
Dark hadn't had much time to practice lately, so he'd only managed to compress his Sacrificial Summoning time down to about 9 seconds.
Three-second Normal Summoning.
Nine-second Sacrificial Summoning.
Such was the extent of Dark's progress at this point.
After using "Sacrificial Summoning" to bring Gatomon onto the field, the summoning ability fell into its cooldown period.
Dark seized this interval to carefully observe Mike Owen's reaction.
Even though the "Suspended Sword" had failed to take effect, Mike Owen showed not the slightest disappointment.
It was as if, from the very start, he hadn't expected the "Suspended Sword" to achieve any results at all.
Even as he was controlling the "Suspended Sword" to slash down from above, he had already drawn out his next Magic Guide Card.
A Magic Guide Spirit, born amid the howling gale, appeared in the air a mere two meters away from the red side's contestant platform.
It was a special one—a Magic Guide Spirit that could only be "Specially Summoned" in an environment brimming with wind element!
[Card Name: Storm Blade]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ?????]
[Race: Elemental Species]
[Attribute: Flying-type]
[Mana: 1800]
[Attack: 2300]
[Defense: 1400]
[Ultimate Move: Eye of the Wind Element, Storm Blade]
[Eye of the Wind Element: When the wind element concentration of the location is sufficiently high, a Magic Guide Spirit possessing the Eye of the Wind Element can be summoned without any sacrifice.]
[Storm Blade: A raging gale whirls about its body like blades, and when warding off powerful foes it can also transform into a storm that destroys everything!]
...
"It's actually the 'Storm Blade'!"
Up on the commentator's platform, Zach Wilson's expression turned to one of astonishment—he distinctly remembered that the wind-element Magic Guide Spirit Mike Owen habitually used should have been a four-star Magic Guide Spirit called the "Eye of the Storm"...
But as a commentator, he of course couldn't stop at a moment like this.
He immediately said: "In only the second turn, Mike Owen has now summoned the five-star Magic Guide Spirit 'Storm Blade' without using any sacrifice at all.
Although contestant Demon likewise used Sacrificial Summoning to bring out a second-tier Magic Guide Spirit, it's only the four-star 'Gatomon'—can it really stand against the mighty wind element?"
While his voice still echoed above the field, the two Magic Guide Spirits in the dueling arena had already charged head-on at each other!
Although the "Storm Blade" was a five-star Magic Guide Spirit, its three core stats were actually not high. What enabled it to win popularity among five-star Magic Guide Spirits were its Ultimate Moves "Eye of the Wind Element" and "Storm Blade."
"Eye of the Wind Element" allowed it to be summoned more easily.
"Storm Blade" made it equally adept at offense and defense!
The "Storm Blade" was a humanoid Magic Guide Spirit, standing only about one meter thirty or forty centimeters tall, its whole body transparent, with a thread of clear breeze circulating within it.
Over its shoulders draped a turquoise cloak, making it look like a tiny little hero.
Once it was born amid the wind element left behind by the "Suspended Sword," it thrust out both hands and dove down from above, the wind blades whirling about its body instantly turning it into a terrifying instrument of slaughter.
Meanwhile, within the blue side's summoning zone.
Gatomon, standing before the blue side's Magic Sphere, merely lifted its head slightly, and from its eyes burst forth beams of light like crimson wheels, blazing fiercely toward that diving "Storm Blade."
Against an opponent covered all over in "spikes," Gatomon—skilled in close-quarters combat—though it held the advantage in its three core stats, still found it extremely awkward.
Therefore, using "Cat Eyes" to throw it into such Confusion that it couldn't control the wind element around its body was the optimal choice.
It succeeded, without a doubt.
When the "Storm Blade" was still some three meters away from it, it suddenly lost control, the wind blades around its body wildly spraying outward in all directions.
Gatomon raised an eyebrow, shrank its body, slid backward, then seized the Magic Sphere and dashed like the wind toward the edge of the field.
Those wind blades, one after another, shot "swish, swish, swish" into the ground almost right on the heels of its steps.
With one final sprint, it dodged every last wind blade.
When it looked up again, the "Storm Blade" no longer had any gale whatsoever coiling about its body.
The "Storm Blade," now the focus of everyone's gaze, wore a face full of bewilderment after coming to its senses.
It hovered in midair, its cloak quivering, both hands spread open as it stood there in a daze.
Gatomon, however, seemed to sense something. In a flash it raised a hand, and a sheathed longsword exuding a holy aura dropped straight down from the air, falling into its palm.
——Come, sword!
The moment Gatomon held the sword in hand, the entire cat's aura was utterly transformed.
It tossed the blue side's Magic Sphere upward, abruptly leaned its upper body forward, and with a burst of force from its hind legs, shot out like a bolt of bright light!
In the midst of its charge, it held the sword in its right hand and gripped the sheath with its left, and with a "shing" it drew the sheath away.
Half the blade was revealed, flickering with a cold gleam.
"Storm Blade, dodge, quick!"
Mike Owen, who had already witnessed the formidable power of this "Honedge" back in the qualifier battle royale, hastily roared out.
Barely one minute into the duel, Mike Owen had completely cast aside the misgivings he'd had before the match began, throwing his entire body and mind into the tense, thrilling duel.
"Tick."
As the 30-second countdown of the third turn began, Dark calmly drew a card, while Mike Owen, as if oblivious, stared fixedly at the dueling field.
A Magic Guide Master's duel was ever-changing—one second victory was in hand, and the next it could be like a candle flickering in the wind.
The "Storm Blade," now stripped of its namesake Ultimate Move "Storm Blade," was clearly slower to activate.
What's more, it had only just come to its senses from the state of "Confusion," so its reactions inevitably lagged.
As it tried to respond to its Magic Guide Master's expectations, a flash of light had already drawn near within its field of vision.
Gatomon, having leapt up, drew its sword in the very instant it closed in—that streak of sword light was like flowing water, pure and bright, and the "Storm Blade" was severed clean at the waist in an instant!
The nature of wind-element life made them nearly immune to physical attacks, yet what it now faced was a Holy Sword that "ignores stat changes and possesses the never-miss trait"!
Equipped with the "Honedge," Gatomon, whose standard attack power had reached 3600 points, shattered its form with a single stroke.
Points of mana light drifted up like fireflies.
Gatomon touched down on one foot to ease the impact, then after two steps sheathed its sword.
It tilted its head up slightly, looking straight at the red side's Magic Sphere in the air, a sharp glint flashing through its eyes.
...
Gatomon's flawless performance made even the commentator Wilson fall silent.
But Mike Owen, up on the red side's contestant platform, was after all a battle-hardened third-year.
Once he confirmed that the "Storm Blade" was beyond saving, he immediately calmed down and reached out to draw a card.
He still had three Magic Guide Cards in hand. These three cards were not useless—it simply wasn't yet the time to use them.
If the two cards drawn this third turn could patch up the gaps, there could still be a turnaround.
Such was the nature of a Magic Guide duel: until the very last moment, no one could rashly call the victory or defeat.
Mike Owen drew a deep breath and was just about to look at the two newly drawn Magic Guide Cards.
But his gaze suddenly froze, as the corner of his eye abruptly caught sight of the Gatomon below striking a "throwing" pose!
After thrusting that sword back into its sheath, Gatomon actually hurled it—sheath and all—straight at the Magic Sphere he was controlling up in the air!
In that very instant, Mike Owen reacted with lightning speed to make an emergency adjustment.
He decisively gave up on checking his Magic Guide Cards. With a flick of his fingertip, mana erupted, and he immediately used the method of remote-controlling the Magic Sphere to set the red side's Magic Sphere in motion.
By now the "Honedge" had already been hurled out, its speed swift as lightning.
Mike Owen poured in mana with all his might, and the Magic Sphere veered off in an instant.
By the narrowest of margins, the "Honedge" went flying past.
Feeling the holy aura of this "Honedge" at such close range, Mike Owen felt that had he been even a moment slower, his Life Barrier—worth a full 8000 mana value—would likely have been unable to withstand the single blow.
This illusion brought sweat to the back of his head.
But fortunately, this kind of throwing attack traveled in a perfectly straight line.
Once the Magic Sphere had dodged the head-on strike, there was no longer any threat.
"Phew——"
At this moment, feedback came through the mana at his fingertips.
Mike Owen finally learned the types of those two new Magic Guide Cards.
And then, deep in his eyes, joy welled up.
But this joy had barely arisen when it abruptly turned to alarm.
Like a roller coaster, Mike Owen's emotions plunged and soared, up and down.
But he was not the only one left aghast by this.
"That's..."
At this very moment, the commentator Wilson's voice had already changed in pitch.
More than half the spectators let out cries of shock.
An atmosphere thick with alarm and bewilderment radiated through the dueling hall.
Even the Valkyrie Alvit and the Sun Warrior Montielfali couldn't restrain their own astonishment.
Beneath the gazes of countless people.
The mysterious sword in everyone's eyes—the single eye within its guard suddenly snapped open, and the ribbon at the end of its hilt, as it stretched longer and broadened, transformed into an arm.
Using the ribbon's "fingers," it grasped the sheath and pulled itself out from within it.
Then it shot out like lightning, and with one seamless stroke, savagely slashed at the red side's Magic Sphere that had already come to a halt in the air!
This time, Mike Owen had no time to control the Magic Sphere—and even if he truly had, there was no way to make the Magic Sphere move faster than a flying four-star Magic Guide Spirit.
The Life Barrier surrounding the Magic Sphere was abruptly cleaved open by this stroke that had caught everyone off guard!
Crack!
The glass-like Life Barrier radiated cracks outward, spreading from the point of the cut.
The Life Barrier's mana value plummeted from 8000 points to below 6000 points in an instant!
Six thousand mana value was, under normal circumstances, still quite ample.
Mike Owen realized he still had room to maneuver. He immediately launched mana, controlling the Magic Sphere to surge upward in an attempt to escape this "armament card" that had, for some unknown reason, "come to life."
But after landing its first stroke, the "Honedge" whirled its blade around without the slightest pause and slashed out a second stroke!
Its original base attack of 2200, as this stroke was unleashed, was boosted by 50% due to the "Combo Slash" effect, becoming 3300 points!
With this stroke, the Magic Sphere's Life Barrier all but burst apart, fragments of mana scattering in every direction.
And its mana value, too, dropped from 5901 points to 2621 points in the blink of an eye!
"Rise!"
Watching the "Honedge" grow even fiercer in momentum after its second stroke, its whole body letting out a whistling sound as though wreathed in swirling air currents.
Mike Owen's face flushed red as he pushed his mana to its very limit.
That Magic Sphere finally shot upward with an explosive burst of starting speed, breaking away from that awe-inspiring "Honedge"!
Yet the "Honedge's" momentum did not falter in the least. With a single turn it trailed up after it, its third stroke thrusting straight in!
Mike Owen instinctively felt that the Magic Sphere's remaining 2621 mana value was utterly insufficient to withstand this third stroke.
He intensified his infusion of mana, and with a hard forward jab of his finger, the Magic Sphere made a right-angle turn, shooting off explosively toward the direction of the blue side's contestant platform.
Having launched it off, he unhesitatingly cut off his control over the Magic Sphere, pressed his hand onto one of his Magic Guide Cards, and chanted "Normal Summoning."
To keep controlling the Magic Sphere in evasion was a strategy of certain death.
The moment Dark likewise used mana to interfere with his Magic Sphere, the "Honedge" would catch up to it in the blink of an eye, and he would have no way left to turn the tide.
Therefore, he could only stake his final hope on the Magic Guide Card in his hand.
And it had to be a Magic Guide Card that could be summoned within three seconds!
"In the name of Mike Owen, Magic Guide Summon—Triple Bronze——"
"Blink Spell!"
...
Dark, who had begun chanting earlier than Mike Owen, by a margin of one second activated first the Spell Card—"Blink Spell"—that he had already gotten into his hand at the opening!
A basic spell that could make a Magic Guide Master, or a Magic Guide Spirit transmuted by his own hand, instantly teleport one to three meters forward.
It drew the distance between the "Honedge" and the red side's Magic Sphere closer by a full three meters in that single instant!
Those three meters, at this critical moment, were like the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Before Mike Owen's "Triple Bronze Gate" could rise up, the "Honedge's" third stroke had already cleaved down upon the red side's Magic Sphere's Life Barrier!
"Crack."
The red side's Magic Sphere's Life Barrier, after enduring the final blow of this three-stroke combo, had its remaining 2621 mana value instantly bottom out. The transparent Life Barrier shattered in the wind and vanished entirely.
[2621-0]
...
A full half-minute behind, Zach Wilson's voice finally rang out with a surge.
"The match is over! The winner of this duel is, first-year Noble House—Dark Demon!"
...
In the ring zone, Angus Jeffrey clasped his hands together, fingers interlaced, his eyes glinting with a sinister gloom.
At his side, Stuart Fawn had at some unknown point arrived at the spectator seats of the ring zone.
"A minute and a half."
"From the start of the Battle Phase, only three turns passed in all."
Stuart Fawn's murmuring voice drifted into Jeffrey's ears like the low droning of locusts.
"Owen, at least made an effort, I suppose."
Angus Jeffrey drew in a long breath and straightened his body.
The sinister gloom in his eyes also vanished without a trace as he sat upright, and instead a "magnanimous" smile appeared on his face.
And then...
Only then, from the spectator seats at the rear of the ring zone, did surging cheers erupt like a tide pouring forth.
No one had expected that the first official match of the Easter Dueling Festival—a third-year versus first-year bout that should have been a foregone conclusion—would turn out so wonderful and so fierce.
"Can someone tell me what that cat is called?"
...
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